100. ANALYSIS: Temur Umarov on Kazakhstan, relations with Russia and the war in Ukraine

Temur Umarov, Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discusses Kazakhstan, its relations with Russia, and the war in Ukraine - why has Tokayev refused to support Russia's full-scale invasion? How has Russia's mobilization impacted Kazakhstan? How has the war impacted other Central Asian states? 

'What Kazakhstan is doing right now [not supporting the war] is pretty risky. We have already seen that Russia is not happy with that... but Kazakhstan understands that it doesn't really have other options... because staying so closely connected to Russia means that together with Russia you would go to this isolation... it's a one-way ticket... so for Kazakhstan it's even more risky to continue being Russia's close ally' 

'Tokayev is very popular in the society right now... after his tough and clear stance on the war in Ukraine... Inside Kazakhstan this [war] leads to even more will to drift away from Russia' 

Temur Umarov: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 

Follow Temur on twitter: @TUmarov

For episode updates follow on twitter: @jessicagenauer

 

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